Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Northern Nevada gets new 775 area code

A five-month break-in period, until May 15, 1999, will be allowed before mandatory dialing of the proper code will begin.

From that day until Dec. 31, 2000, callers will hear a recorded message alerting them to a wrongly dialed number. After that, calls made in error will be billed.

Clark County, encompassing Las Vegas, kept the old 702 code despite complaints from the rest of the state that growth in that area caused the need for the second code and so that area should suffer through the change.

But Area Code Administrator Doug Hescox said it makes more sense to switch the rest of the state because far fewer phone lines are involved.

By the time the switch is completed in mid-1999, he added there will be nearly twice as many phone lines in the south as in the rest of the state.

And with that area's growth rate, Hescox said the south will need another area code in about five years anyway and it wouldn't be fair to make southern Nevada businesses change over twice in that short period of time.

Hescox, who had ruled out 777 and 711 as unavailable, said his decision on the new number is final. Nevada officials agreed.

"The decision has been made. Now it is time for us to move forward and make this transition with as little inconvenience as possible," said David Nichols, president of Nevada Bell in Reno.

The telecommunications industry sought the new area code, citing a fast-shrinking pool of available numbers for one code.

Nicholas said Nevada Bell will launch a customer-education program in March and will include reminders of the new area code in monthly bills and in the coming 1998-99 Nevada Bell directory.

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